From Special Reports

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. ­ Freshman Tamra Howren broke the school-record for most home runs and runs batted in for a season, as the Troy State softball team swept a key Atlantic Sun Conference doubleheader against archrival Jacksonville State at University Field on Tuesday evening, running its current winning streak to nine.

Troy State (42-16, 10-6 A-Sun) pounded out 17 hits in a 10-2 win in game one.

Howren and Molly Homer both had three hits and four Lady Trojans drove in two runs or more in the win.

The Lady Trojans rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win game two 6-3.

"This was a very important sweep for us," said Troy State head coach Melanie Davis.

"We have been hitting the ball really well over the last few weeks and we continued to do that today.

I’m especially happy for Tamra to get over the hump and break the home run record, especially being a freshman."

The Lady Trojans jumped out of the box early in game one, scoring three runs in the second to take the lead.

Homer opened the scoring with a RBI single through the left side.

Mindy Porep capped the rally with a ground-rule double over the fence in left center to drive in two runs and give TSU a 3-0 lead.

Howren broke out of her home run drought in the fifth, smashing a home run over the left field fence for her eighth home run of the year and her first since March 23 to give TSU a 4-0 lead in game one.

It broke the previous school record of seven held by four players.

Howren’s record setting day didn’t stop there.

She laced a two-run double in the six-run seventh inning to tie the school-record RBIs of 50 set by Holly Mantooth in 1999.

Kim Unkenholz picked up the win to improve to 11-4 on the season. In seven innings of work she allowed two runs on four hits while striking out a season-high nine batters and walking just two.

Breanna Oleman got the loss for JSU, dropping to 5-3 on the year. She gave seven runs, four earned, on 13 hits.

Jacksonville State jumped out with three runs in the first inning of game two.

Rachel Countryman capped the Gamecock rally with a two-run double to left center to put JSU on top.

Troy State battled back with two runs in the third.

Porep drove in a run with a single to center field and Jenny Boyd scored on Erin Flater’s ground out to cut the lead to 3-2.

The Lady Trojans would bat around in the sixth inning, scoring four runs to take a 6-3 lead.

Flater and Kami Marrott both hit solo home runs with Swift driving in another run on a sacrifice fly.

Christi Curran came on in relief of Ashley Floyd and got the win for Troy State to improve to 6-3 on the year.

Curran pitched three scoreless innings while striking out two.

Tera Ross got the loss for Jax State to drop her record to 14-7. Ross gave up six runs, four earned, on nine hits, striking out five and walking one.

The Lady Trojans wrap up their A-Sun schedule with "Senior Day" against Belmont on Saturday at the Lady Trojans Softball Complex.

First pitch is set for 1 p.m.